On a journey with yoga

MOUNT Isa’s resident yoga guru is travelling to India this month to study yoga in an ashram and spend time in the Himalayas with a yoga mentor.

Janine O’Sullivan began practising yoga in her home country of Ireland and has visited India many times for further training.

Ms O’Sullivan is preparing for a gruelling schedule of 4.30am starts and 10.30pm finishes, seven days a week.

“The course is very intense but it’s definitely worth it and my classes will be even better because of it,” she said.

She will then travel to the Himalayas where she will be mentored by an old yogi who has been studying and teaching yoga for more than 40 years.

“I’m very excited, I will have a lot to learn from him,” she said.

Originally trained in hatha yoga, Ms O’Sullivan dreamed of training in India, the birthplace of yoga, and in January 2010 she arrived there to train in a style of yoga called sivananda yoga.

“It’s a very traditional style of yoga, included in it is the postures, relaxation, pranayama (breathing techniques) and meditation,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

She spent five months in the ashram south of India in Madurai.

After her first time there, Ms O’Sullivan dreamt of going back and furthering her yoga studies in advanced teacher training, which she will be doing until the end of March.

Ms O’Sullivan first arrived in Mount Isa two years ago, after visiting her brother who had moved over from Ireland 10 years ago.

She was living in Western Australia and decided to move to Mount Isa to be closer to family.

“I came over for a visit first to have a look and see how I felt about the place, then went back to WA and within a few weeks decided to move,” she said.

“So I packed up my car and drove for a week across Australia on my own to Mount Isa – it was great to see more of Australia.”

Ms O’Sullivan has been teaching yoga in Mount Isa since March last year, running up to five classes per week and catering to many different types of people.

“That’s the great thing about yoga, it doesn’t discriminate, anyone can benefit from it, regardless of age, sex or condition of health,” she said.

“I have had many wonderful reports from people who have been coming to the classes since March about the difference it has made to their lives, which is one of the reasons why I love teaching it.

“I’ve met so many lovely people through the classes and really enjoy living and working here in Mount Isa.”

Ms O’Sullivan will be keeping in touch with her yoga students through her Facebook page YogaWithJanine, while she is India and was looking forward to coming back with new things to teach in her classes.

“I don’t think of it really as a job, it’s more like a lifestyle for me and I love what I do.”